Tea Cake And Janie's Identity

Identity is never set in stone. It is a characteristic that is never fully fulfilled but rather alternating constantly. Over the course of life, individuals can experience hardships and overwhelming events which fluctuates their identity. Big or small, each event results in a slight shift in one's identity. Every individual takes a different path in life, and every person's identity modifies in a unique way over their lifetime. From the start of Tea Cake and Janie’s relationship In Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God Janie’s identity takes radical changes while Tea Cake goes through minimal adjustment.

The marriage of Tea Cake and Janie opens up a new world to Janie. With her previous relationships she has always been …show more content…
She begins to question her decision of marrying Tea Cake. At first she thinks Tea Cake will return in a matter of minutes but as time goes on she begins to doubt herself. She becomes furious at his return and her trust for Tea Cake takes a drastic negative turn. Janie realizes that she must pay more attention to Tea Cake after this massive event. Tea Cake’s identity barely changes after the incident. He realizes that he did the wrong thing but couldn't help himself with the immense amount of cash flow that he now has possession of. Tea Cake acknowledges that he now must regain the lost trust. He proposes to gamble the lost money back, “Ah’ll tell yuh, You done married one uh de best gamblers God ever made” (Hurston 125). Tea Cake is requesting to acquire the lost money by making another brutal decision. He gambles on a regular basis and is used to reckless behavior, therefore he does not believe that stealing the money was a horrific event . He stays the same and his identity does not go through a massive shift. After the poor decision by Tea Cake, Janie’s identity takes a massive turn and begins to think that marrying Tea Cake may not have been the wisest choice. Tea Cake is aware of his reckless behavior and believes that it is not a tragic thing to due which causes his identity to take a very slight …show more content…
Janie realizes that there's not much time before her love of her life is gone forever. This takes a major toll on Janie, the only relationship that she has truly enjoyed over her life is now slipping through her fingertips and she may not ever be able to relive the precious moments. The eventual death of Tea Cake terrorizes Janie. Janie is already in mass despair, but when she has to kill her own loved one she falls into pieces. Janie just shot Tea Cake “ It was the meanest moment of eternity. A minute before she was just a scared human being fighting for its life. Now she was her sacrificing self with Tea Cake’s head in her lap” (Hurston 184). She cannot believe what she has just endured. Tea Cake meant the world to her and now he is gone for good. Her identity takes a dreadful turn. Nearly everything she ever had is gone, and she does not know what she is living for at the moment. This major and drastic event sucks the life out of Janie and her identity will never be the same. Tea Cake is in extreme conditions and is not acting like his ordinary self. His identity also takes an enormous shift due to the new Tea Cake that has emerged caused by the rabies. He cannot continue the prosperous relationship anymore with Janie. He has become another human being and can no longer communicate with Janie in the same way as at the start of their relationship. The rabies has taken too much out of Tea Cake and altered his